Verasity

By 2021, it’s estimated that 82% of all consumer internet traffic will be from video content. This is a market with an annual value of c.$312B and streaming media is set for the largest increase in video ad-spend over the next five years. It’s often said that nothing in this world is certain except for death and taxes. Perhaps that should also include advertising…

Existing video platforms wouldn’t exist without them. Sadly, the current fixed advertising model means creators, broadcasters, and publishers struggle to make money online. Advertisers and agencies are also facing a well-publicized crisis around ad-fraud. And viewers are becoming increasingly discontented with intrusive advertising and having their data sold on by corporations.

Enter Verasity, the future of online video…

Blockchain startups come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it’s the bedroom geniuses coding in the dead of night or experienced groups of disruptors spinning up innovative businesses. Verasity’s team has decades of experience working for world-renowned companies such as Akamai, Amazon Web Services (AWS), BSkyB, Eurosport, Turner, AOL, Guardian Media and many more.

The team is made up of people who have made it their business to be at the cutting-edge of technological advancement, and be the disruptors, not the disrupted. The team at Verasity know how the online video industry can be evolved and supercharged with blockchain technology and most importantly, how to make Verasity a reality, not just a pipe dream.

Verasity is a suite of blockchain enhanced video platform technologies that will change the online video market forever. For the first time, viewers, content creators, and advertisers will have a direct, transparent, and fair relationship.

This is all possible thanks to Verasity’s high-performance blockchain which facilitates a transparent ecosystem – powered by a new micropayment capable token called VERA (VRA). The entire Verasity ecosystem is overseen by their guardian angel known as Proof-of-View (PoV™). This patent-pending technology eliminates ad-fraud and fake video views which continue to run rampant on existing video platforms, eroding the accuracy of everything from recommendation engines to a brands return on investment for sponsorships.

Verasity’s Blockchain architecture is currently in development and while we are planning on building on Graphene (DPoS), there’s also a desire to be chain agnostic so the team is currently investigating and exploring the EOS framework. One thing’s for sure, Verasity will have a high-performance blockchain that can provide the throughput required to support microtransactions at scale and overcome congestion. More information can be found in the Verasity Yellowpaper.

Utilising bespoke and unique video technology (developed over the past four years) and integrating both proprietary, and open source Blockchain technology, Verasity is in the process of developing a full ‘online video toolkit’, including:

Verasity.tv – a community driven video sharing platform that uses the full suite of tools

vDaf – a suite of modular online video products for international broadcasters and large media outlets

Spark Marketplace – the next evolution in crowdfunding for online video content

How does Verasity work?There are two sides to Verasity, the video-sharing platform and vDaf. Verasity.tv is the B2C proposition and vDaf is a modular B2B solution. The B2C community-driven video sharing platform features all of the above products combined and Verasity’s B2B product, vDaf. vDaf allows international broadcasters and publishers to pick the modules that make sense for their online video proposition.

Videos on Verasity’s system are hosted on the world’s largest CDN (Akamai) rather than using unproven decentralized video distribution technology. Right from the start users will receive the consistently high-quality experience they’ve grown accustomed to on the world’s largest traditional video sharing websites. This is essential for mass-adoption of any video platform. Viewers will consume video through Verasity’s proprietary HTML5 player VeraPlayer™ which has been proven to distribute over 8 Petabytes of data in a month and is already embedded and working on leading ICO rating sites such as ICObench.

When viewers first sign up to Verasity, they’ll receive an initial allocation of tokens into their VeraWallet which will let them explore the platform and its functionality. As they watch videos they’ll then start to build up a small portion of newly minted VERA from the reward pool. Over time this will enable viewers to save up and use their VERA to donate to creators, unlock videos, or pay for premium monthly subscriptions from their favourite creators. Of course, if they wish, they can convert existing cryptocurrency into VERA and top up their VeraWallet with a lump sum.

Verasity is built on a foundation of choice and viewers can choose whether they want to see adverts or not. If they choose to turn them on they’ll get paid directly by advertisers in VERA. Each Verasity member gets to choose how much of their data they want to share with advertisers. They can share nothing which means the adverts they see will be less relevant. But if they want to share more of their data, they’ll see more relevant adverts and get paid more VERA by Advertisers. Once again, it’s completely up to each individual viewer.

Video creators and publishers on Verasity will earn more than on traditional platforms as VERA cryptocurrency removes the need for intermediaries which can take up to 70% of the value on existing video platforms. They’ll also receive payment in near-real-time rather than having to wait standard 60-90 day payment terms. Lastly, they can be sure that their content looks fantastic as videos on Verasity will be hosted on centralized CDN infrastructure that ensures content can be consistently streamed in high-quality (HD, 60 FPS) with low latency and low buffering.

Creators will also have more monetization options available to them than on any other current video-platform meaning new and exciting types of content will flourish.

Monetization can also be set on a per video basis – there’s no one-size-fits-all model on Verasity:

Creators can also make full use of Verasity’s innovative Crowdsourcing system. Verasity’s Spark Marketplace is designed to help Creators grow by enabling them to raise funds so that they can create even better content. Not only that, but the Spark Marketplace gives back to the people who helped them raise the funds.

Creators can choose to sell a VeraSpark smart-contract in their channel, they can choose how much VERA to sell it for, and what percentage of their channel revenue that Spark is worth. Users buy these VeraSparks and while they hold a channel’s VeraSpark, they will receive a percentage of the VERA earned by the creator. If they decide that they want to then resell the VeraSpark, they can do so in the Spark Marketplace.

Advertisers on Verasity can run their campaigns in the knowledge that Proof-of-View (PoV™) will be making sure they only pay when their adverts are watched by a real human. This provides them with true accountability and greater ROI for their media spend. They’re also likely to see higher engagement and interaction on their campaigns due to viewers opting in to see adverts. Partnerships with a new wave of blockchain powered media agencies are already in place to provide advertising brands with full transparency in media buying across the value chain.

What do the Tokenomics look like?
Cryptecon, a Swiss cryptocurrency economy analyst firm, has modelled and stress tested Verasity’s economy. Verasity has a monetary policy that implements an algorithm to ensure that an inflation rate of 3% is targeted. Fiscal policy is implemented through the Spark Marketplace incentivising VERA holders to hold stakes as described above. By combining Monetary and Fiscal policy, Verasity aims to manage a sustainable economy. Token supply is based on the velocity of VERA transactions within the ecosystem. The algorithms and logic to achieve these targets are described in the Verasity economic whitepaper.

The Verasity Graphene-based blockchain utilises a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. Representatives from the community verify/sign new blocks — on Verasity, these representatives are known as ‘Verafiers™’.

Users who hold VERA elect Verafiers™. The more VERA you hold, the more influence you have to decide upon the elected Verafiers™. To incentivise block creation, Verafiers™ get rewarded for their services to the platform. If a bad actor doesn’t produce validated blocks, they are not rewarded and get voted out by other VERA holders. This ensures that the value of the token cannot be eroded over time.

Token: VERA

Ticker: VRA

Total Supply: 12,491,500,000

Total Sale Allocation: 50% (6,245,750,000)

Token Type: ERC20 (Ethereum)

Public Sales: May 21, 2018 to July 11, 2018

Soft cap: Passed

Hard cap: $25M

Token Allocation:

Tokens held by Foundation are used for operating expenditure and to be put back into the economy.

Referral program tokens are for ICO promotion and platform adoption promotion.

After the ICO, unspent Referral tokens will be placed in the Reward Pool and Stabilization Fund

Team tokens are locked in for 18 months

Advisor tokens are locked in for 9 months

Projected Use of Funds from Token Sale

18% Platform Costs – Includes hosting, storage, bandwidth and delivery of content when users interact with the online video platform

20% Research and Development – Engineering costs to implement proposed roadmap, including Blockchain Network development and platform upgrades

20% Contractors and Salaries – Includes payroll for all non-engineering staff and contractors

20% Technology Licenses – Includes all licences for the underlying technology, including the player, uploader, advertising platform etc.

2.5% Legal and Admin – Compliance and other related administrative and accounting costs

1.5% Business Development – To develop global commercial partnerships

1% Contingency – To cover any overspends in the above categories

What is Verasity’s vision?Verasity will revolutionise online video. Finally, there will be a place where both viral and niche content can survive. A place where viewers and creators are brought closer together and video content can be valued on its merit alone rather than the perceived demographic value of who is watching it.

Verasity will be a platform where viewers have control over their experience and data. A platform where creators receive a fair reward for their work and have the ability to monetize their videos how they see fit. Advertisers will have full transparency over their campaigns and know they’re reaching real people. Verasity’s vDaf will provide global publishers with a scalable and proven monetization model for their video content.

Verasity will also be a place for pay-per-view content such as sports and film as well as subscription-based online video. It will be a place where AAA content is nurtured within the Spark Marketplace and Verasity’s community will be the ones to fuel the growth of top-tier content alongside traditional media companies. Verasity’s protocols will even be adapted and integrated into existing player technology. This will enable existing video sharing platforms and large-scale publishers to sell digital content to their users using VERA.